Let us begin with a statement upon which everyone can agree: Aspiration Nation is a rubbish phrase that should be abandoned forthwith. Robert Colvile is correct about this. Secondly, the budget is a response to, but hardly a cure for, the worst recovery in recorded, memorised, history. Thirdly, the soft bigotry of low budget expectations is such that I agree with Sam Bowman and think this may – at first glance – be George Osborne’s best budget yet.
That scarcely means it was a triumph. How could it be when the forecast for growth this year has been halved to a wholly inadequate 0.6%? This was a budget sired by Labour, out of failure. More selling plate at Pontefract than the Derby at Epsom.
Indeed, for all the talk about how this government has taken a slash-and-burn approach to the public finances one had the sense that, at least in terms of the big picture, this was a budget not far removed from those Alistair Darling might have delivered had Labour clung to power for another term.
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